France says goodbye to three French police officers while declaring war against ‘terrorism, jihadism and radicalism’

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After the nation said goodbye to three police officers at a sombre funeral service Tuesday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared war against “terrorism, jihadism and radicalism.”

He argued before legislators for tougher anti-terror and surveillance laws as Parliament approved an extension of the military air campaign against the Islamic State in Syria.

Nearly 15,000 soldiers and police officers have been deployed across France to protect Jewish schools and synagogues and other sensitive targets such as airports, train stations and tourist attractions.

This large military manoeuvre, unseen on French soil since the Second World War, is meant to calm the fears of both French Jews and citizens who fear more attacks in the wake of the 17 deaths last week — 12 at the satirical news magazine Charlie Hebdo, four men at a Jewish supermarket, and a female police officer.

Throughout Europe, an international dragnet searched for members of a sleeper terror cell that authorities believe helped three assailants carry out these brazen attacks.

“We must be relentless in the face of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts; unrelenting in the face of apologists for terrorism and of those who carry it out, and, above all, of the jihadists who head for Iraq and Syria and who return afterward,” said French President François Hollande.

And at Libération, the Paris paper that is acting as a temporary newsroom for Charlie Hebdo, editorial members prepared an unprecedented run of 3 million copies of the Wednesday issue of the magazine.

A leaked copy of the cartoon on the front, distributed widely on the Internet, shows the Prophet Muhammad crying, holding a sign that says, “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie.” The headline reads, “Tout est Pardonné” or “All is forgiven.”

The cartoon’s creator, Rénald Luzier, who goes by the pen name Luz, said he drew it as the remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo wanted. “It was not the front page the world wanted us to make, but it was the one that we wanted to make,” he said. Five of the magazine’s cartoonists were killed in last Wednesday’s massacre.

“We’ve been called dangerous, irresponsible troublemakers. But we’re, above all, cartoonists, just like kids who like to draw,” said Luz, according to Bloomberg.

Gérard Biard, the magazine’s editor, said the edition would be published in French, English, Arabic and Spanish.

The leaked cover ignited strong warnings from some Muslim organizations.

Egypt’s Dar al-Iftaa, the official religious edict authority, warned on it’s English Facebook page against the “insulting edition” of the upcoming Charlie Hebdo, saying it could “stir a new wave of hatred in the French and western community in general.”

France remained on its highest terror alert as the search for those connected to the well-planned attacks continued.

Fritz-Joly Joachin, who is of Haitian origin, has been in custody in Haskovo, Bulgaria, since Jan. 1, after a warrant was issued for his arrest concerning accusations that Joachin abducted his 3-year-old son.

Joachin is apparently connected to Chérif Kouachi, 32, who along with his older brother Saïd Kouachi, 34, massacred 12 people in the Charlie Hebdo newsroom.

French police issued another warrant for his arrest on Sunday, saying he is wanted in connection with his “participation in an organized criminal group for the preparation of terrorist acts,” the New York Times reported.

Southern Bulgarian authorities say he was arrested when he tried to cross into Turkey.

“He met with Kouachi several times at the end of December,” said Darina Slavova, the regional prosecutor for the southern province of Haskovo on local TV, according to Associated Press.

The Couachi brothers, along with Amendy Coulibaly, 32, the gunman who held up the Jewish supermarket and killed four people last Friday, all claimed to be associated with Islamic extremist groups. All three were killed in gunfights with French police last Friday and all three were also on international no-fly lists.

The Couachis told French television on Friday, during a dramatic standoff at a print shop in a Paris suburb, that they were associated with Al Qaeda in Yemen. And a video of Coulibaly posted after his death claims he had ties to the Islamic State.

French authorities are looking for as many as six people, including Coulibaly’s lover, Hayat Boumeddiene, 25, who travelled to Turkey on Jan 2. It is believed she escaped to Syria last Thursday, the same day her common-law husband is alleged to have shot unarmed police officer Clarissa Jean-Philippe in Paris.